Translation: Aerial Rain Translation (aerialrain.com) by koffeam

"It’s okay.” The old man smiled and handed her a bamboo slip, “This is the introductory book about array formation that you need.”

“Thank you, Senior.” Meng Qi hurriedly saluted him and respectfully took the bamboo slip with both hands. “How much is this?”

“I don’t accept spirit stones here.” The old man replied cheerfully. “I only accept barter. Young Daoist needs to exchange with a book of equivalent value that I don’t have.”

“Eh?” Meng Qi was a little surprised, “But anything I can barter, Senior should already have them here.” She hesitated, and didn’t immediately read the content of the bamboo slip in her hand.

Meng Qi still had the medical notes given by Elder Yan Mingfeng. But that was the elder’s personal notes. Without the Elder’s approval, Meng Qi definitely couldn’t use it for barter.

“Senior.” Meng Qi glanced at the bamboo slip in her hands reluctantly before holding it back respectfully to the old man. She really wanted it. But Meng Qi knew that she couldn’t come up with a book to exchange with the old man. “I don’t have books of equivalent value that I can exchange now. I’ve bothered Senior.”

“Young Daoist doesn’t have to worry. The value of the books is not measured by spirit stones. I don’t actually sell books here. But you can exchange anything I don’t have for a number of spirit points.”

“Huh?” This was Meng Qi’s first time hearing about spirit points. “Excuse me, Senior, what is spirit point?”

“You can regard it the currency you can use here.” The old man smiled slightly, “Young Daoist is new in Beyond The Heaven, correct? In fact, besides my little shop, there are many places in Beyond The Heaven where you can exchange spirit points for various things.”

“Is that so?” Meng Qi nodded thoughtfully.

“With spirit points, Young Daoist can come here to read books, although you cannot take them out.” The old man said again, “As for the value of the things that Young Daoist use to exchange for spirit points, Beyond The Heaven has its own set of criteria. You may as well give it a try.”

“I understand.” Meng Qi was tempted. She thought for a while. Personal notes should fit the criteria. Whenever she had nothing to do, Meng Qi usually would sit down to write her own experience in medical cultivation, so she had her own collection of personal notes.

Meng Qi took out a bamboo slip and handed it to the old man. It was the same copy of the bamboo slip she gave Xue Chengxuan before, which recorded the method to treat people injured by the immortal devouring vine.

The old man took the bamboo slip. A faint light flashed from his other hand, and the bamboo slip also lit up slightly.

Meng Qi watched calmly. She had noticed that this ‘Heaven And Earth Book Hall’ seemed a little different than other places in Beyond The Heaven. This mysterious shopkeeper could even skip the law of Beyond The Heaven and directly took the content recorded in the bamboo slip.

Meng Qi turned her gaze around the entire hall. There were so many bamboo and jade slips piled up into the seemingly endless high ceiling.

How long did it take to accumulate so many books?

Meng Qi turned back at the old man. There was admiration in her gaze. At the same time, the old man returned the bamboo slip to her. “The content of this bamboo slip is indeed new.” He spread his other hand, and there was an extra bamboo slip on it, which he put into his sleeves. “For this, I can give you 30 spirit points.”

“Thank you, Senior.” Meng Qi’s tone became more respectful, “May I ask how many spirit points are needed to read the book you just recommended?”

“You can borrow it with ten spirit points.” The old man answered.

“Huh?” Meng Qi was surprised. So cheap?

As if guessing her mind, the old man stroked his beard again, smiling: “Do you think it is too cheap?” He looked around, still smiling: “I said before that the value of the books should not be measured by spirit stones. It should be measured by how many people read or need them. The more a book is read, the higher is its value.”

“Thank you, Senior,” Meng Qi respectfully cupped her hands in salute.

“In addition, if someone pays to borrow a book Young Daoist provided, this old man will give you three spirit points in share.” The old man said. “If Young Daoist has any other books, you can send it here anytime.”

“I understand.” Meng Qi responded. She took the bamboo slip from the old man, poured her spiritual aura, and began to read the contents inside.

Meng Qi had never learned arrays systematically and was eager for new knowledge. But Li Che and the others were still waiting for her outside, and she couldn’t stay for too long. She spent only one incense stick of time to skim over the introductory-level book hastily.

Meng Qi returned the bamboo slip and was about to say goodbye, but the old man handed her another bamboo slip and said with a smile: “I think Young Daoist needs another book.”

“Thank you, Senior.” Meng Qi took the bamboo slip without hesitation. She looked at the bamboo slip carefully. Compared with the slightly old and yellowed bamboo slip just now, this one looked much newer. She almost could see the fresh greenness of bamboo branches and smell its subtle fragrance.

“Eh?” Meng Qi poured her aura into the bamboo slips. But when she began to read its content, she couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise. “This…” She gripped the bamboo slip tightly and raised her eyes towards the old man.

This bamboo slip recorded the information of several different arrays. Although the arrays looked different, they were all part of the same set, plus two variations derived from the same core.

“What’s wrong?” The old man said with a smile, “I just got this set of arrays a few days ago. I wonder if this is helpful for you?”

“Thank you, Senior.” Meng Qi’s eyes flickered. She bowed deeply. She didn’t know who this person was or what his identity. But the more she interacted with Beyond The Heaven, the more she felt awe towards the power of this mysterious and unfathomable place.

Recorded in this bamboo slip was exactly the array she found on Li Che and Xue Lingfeng’s body.

Four Orders And Four Seasons Array?

Meng Qi focused her mind and began to study the content of the bamboo slip seriously. It explained the Four Orders And Four Seasons Array in detail, including the drawing of all arrays in variations, how to deploy them, their effects, and many others. In the end, there was a line that should be the comment left by the author: “Just a little trick. Merely using fancy-looking methods to confuse others.”

Meng Qi”…”

This person’s tone was really high. This Four Orders And Four Seasons Array greatly troubled two large medical sects. Yet, in this person’s eyes, it was just a little trick?

She skipped a few lines, and turned her eyes back to the arrays’ drawing. In fact, what was really useful was just the core array. The beautiful flower drawn around it was merely a decoy to confuse people.

People who didn’t understand this array would be fooled if they put their attention on the flowers.

This set of Four Orders And Four Seasons Array looked different from each other, but in fact, had the same effect. To put it simply, these arrays were named Four Orders And Four Seasons because they could change the order of the seasons. But the arrays themselves were of course not that powerful. Its real power was to confuse people trapped inside to make them think they were in different seasons.

It was this illusion effect that confused Xue Clan and Canglang Academy’s people. When they tried to use detoxification spells on Xue Lingfeng and Li Che, they thought it worsen the poison instead. In fact, according to the explanation written in this bamboo slip, as long as the healer ignored the patient’s pain and continue to use the detoxification spell, they would find that the poison was indeed getting cured. However, when they saw that Xue Lingfeng and Li Che seemed to be more painful when a spell was used, they didn’t dare to continue.

Meng Qi frowned slightly. So, the question was, why did both Xue Clan and Canglang Academy’s people think that only cultivators below the Golden Core could detoxify Li Che and Xue Lingfeng?

Meng Qi shook her head and stared once again at the Four Orders And Four Seasons Array in the bamboo slip content.

Eh?

Meng Qi squinted her eyes.

She got it!

Meng Qi’s gaze swept across one of the arrays’ drawings. Contrary to her initial hypothesis, the arrays on Xue Lingfeng and Li Che’s body didn’t use the help of the flowers drawn around them to suck their host’ aura. In fact, the arrays themselves were activated by external aura. In other words, whenever someone used a spell on the host’s body, the arrays would suck the aura and used it for themselves. For cultivators below the Golden Core stage, their aura was too low to activate the Four Orders And Four Seasons Array. That’s why Foundation Establishment cultivator could use spells on Xue Lingfeng and Li Che without making their poison seemingly getting worse.

After figuring out the whole picture, Meng Qi was a little stupefied. In fact, the poison itself was just a mix of afterimage grass and winter plum blossom juice. These two poisons were easy to detoxify with a basic spell.

Both Xue Clan and Canglang Academy were a large medical sect. Naturally, they were good at treating poisons. Any of the members they brought for this Medical Cultivators Conference could easily solve the poisons. Therefore, the preparator deliberately drew the Four Orders And Four Seasons Array on Xue Lingfeng and Li Che’s back so that their elders didn’t dare to act rashly and thus had no way to cure them.

As to why they were made to think that only a Foundation Establishment healer could cure the two, this was probably a deliberate misguide from the preparator.

Meng Qi shook her head lightly. She never expected that the array that made Xue Clan and Canglang Academy hopeless turned out to be just an illusion. She put away the bamboo slip and returned it to the old man.

“Does it help you, Young Daoist?” The old man asked with a smile.

“Yes.” Meng Qi nodded, “Thank you for Senior’s guidance.”

“Young Daoist has spent twenty spirit points today. If you need anything next time, feel free to come to my Heaven And Earth Book Hall.” The old man smiled again. “This old man should not delay Young Daoist’s business. Farewell.”

“This junior bids farewell.” Meng Qi respectfully bowed once again before taking her leave.

After leaving the shop, Meng Qi looked back once again. Under the night sky, it was only a small and unimpressed shop, located in the deserted northwest corner of Beyond The Heaven City, and didn’t even have a name written on its sign.

Who would have thought that a completely different world was hidden inside?

Meng Qi carefully remembered the location, then began to walk towards the teleportation array and returned to the city gate.

A moment after she left, a white light flashed on the third floor of the book hall. A handsome white-robed young man appeared from the flash and casually pulled out a bamboo slip from the bookshelf nearby.

Without reading its content, he put the bamboo slip back to the shelf. The white-robed man repeated this many times, and in just a moment, he had taken out and returned the bamboo slip seventy or eighty times.

The old man who was still sorting out the bamboo slips on the first floor finally looked up at the third floor, “What are you doing?”

“She is very stupid.” The white-robed man replied, “Just a Four Orders And Four Season Array can amaze her so much. She will definitely have to come here a lot in the future.” While speaking, he kept taking out the same bamboo slip and throwing it back again and again.

“Why don’t you just directly give her your excess spirit points?” The old man couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

The white-robed man paused, but soon continued to take out and returned the bamboo slip, as if nothing happened. “How can the rules laid down by the ancestors be broken just for one Foundation Establishment cultivator?” He said nonchalantly. “I cannot make an exception for her.”

“Heh—” The old man chuckled. He turned around and continuing to organize the bookshelf. “Rules?” He strokes the bamboo slips on a shelf. “What kind of rules?” His gaze drifted into a distance. “Is it Three Thousand World’s Heavenly Dao’s rules? Or the Demon Realm’s Nine Heaven’s rules? Or the Devil Realm’s Twelve Great Sky’s rules?”

The white-robe man’s hands once again paused.

The old man smiled slightly and continued, “But this is also good. It is rare to have such a well-behaved, polite, smart, and diligent little girl come here and accompany me to read books and chatting. If you want to help her, just do so. Help her slowly earn more spirit points, so she can come to accompany me more. This third grandfather of yours will also be happy.” The white-robed man’s granduncle—the book hall’s old man—waved his hand and smiled brightly: “Just take your time there. I will make tea and take a rest.”

The white-robed man quietly watched the old man’s back disappeared behind the bookshelf. His grip on the bamboo slip tightened. The man slowly opened his hand and lowered his gaze at the bamboo slip on his palm. This was the bamboo slip Meng Qi exchanged for thirty spirit points just now. According to the old man, every time someone borrowed this bamboo slip, Meng Qi would earn three spirit points—and the white-robed man exactly was doing this.

Only a few select in Beyond The Heaven knew about the spirit points. In addition to borrowing books at the legendary Heaven And Earth Book Hall, spirit points could also be used to redeem some rare things. For example, if a sect wanted to open their own store on one of the two of Beyond The Heaven’s floating islands, they needed to use spirit points.

In addition, these spirit points could also be used to exchange for some exclusive experiences provided by Beyond The Heaven. For example, the tokens needed to enter Beyond The Heaven’s mountain that previously was auctioned at the Heaven Auction House. Anyone with enough spirit points could directly redeem a token without having to participate in the fierce bidding war. Therefore, the value of spirit points in Beyond The Heaven was much higher than spirit stones.

Because of its value, few people knew about spirit points. Not to mention newcomers, even many of the veterans who had been patronizing Beyond The Heaven for a long time didn’t know about its existence and value.

In Three Thousand World, most people who knew about spirit points were the leaders of large sects. Otherwise, they were the most prestigious and powerful wandering cultivators. But not even many of them knew the location of Heaven And Earth Book Hall.

Because of the old man’s words, the white-robed man seemed to pause for a moment. But he soon resumed taking out and putting back the bamboo slip.

After working hard for a month, she barely solved the poison of jackdaw grass. This progress was too slow. What’s more, even such a small place like Xue Clan’s library collection could attract her so much.

What’s so good about Feng Alliance?

The sects in Three Thousand Worlds, the bigger they were, the more people there would have a higher heart, and few would cultivate wholeheartedly. Meng Qi should visit the Heaven And Earth Book Hall a few more times and see more, so she would no longer be attracted and distracted by those small places.

Seeing Meng Qi slowly opened her eyes, Sikong Xing immediately jumped over. “Meng Qiqi, how is it?”

Meng Qi stood up and nodded, “I found the solution.”

Indeed, now that she had the thorough understanding of Four Orders And Four Seasons Array, this was actually…just a very simple, yet complex-looking, array.

Meng Qi felt a little ashamed.

Was she also influenced by the author’s comment on the bamboo slip she just read? Before this, she clearly thought that whoever designed the method of using this array was very smart and knowledgeable. But now, her impression changed so drastically.

“Great!” Sikong Xing cheered happily.

Su Junmo still looked at Meng Qi with a weird expression. He wasn’t surprised that Meng Qi actually found a solution. The Lord even led her to Heaven And Earth Book Hall, which was equivalent to helping Meng Qi directly.

With Meng Qi’s brain, it was impossible for her to not gain anything.

After smiling at Sikong Xing, Meng Qi’s eyes fell on Su Junmo. She nodded gently, as if thanking him for his information and tacitly maintaining a secret between them.

Su Junmo’s heart fell with a loud ‘thump.’

Did Meng Qi know something?

In fact, he always felt strange. The Lord ordered him to investigate Meng Qi, but actually was to protect her in disguise. However, the Lord never came forward directly and instead always let him be the middleman.

The Lord seemed to be hiding, and Meng Qi also never mentioned anything about the Lord and the Demon Realm. Since the two involved parties didn’t say anything, Su Junmo of course didn’t dare to mention a word. But even if he was to be killed, Su Junmo refused to believe that Meng Qi, who used the Four Poles Great Array so casually, really knew nothing.

So, the crucial question here is, how much exactly does Meng Qi know?

He is so curious, ah!

Su Junmo felt as if a cat was scratching his heart.

He feels so itchy. He wants to ask, wants to know, wants to gossip!

Su Junmo barely suppressed the blazing gossip fire in his heart and silently watched Meng Qi walked back to Li Che.

“Fellow Daoist Li.” Meng Qi said. “If you want to detoxify your poison, it’s better to have your Master do it. Although it may be more painful for a while, it will be quicker that way. Please bear with it.”

“I understand.” Li Che nodded. His vision was still extremely blurred. So he had to follow the voice to turn his head towards Meng Qi’s direction. His youthful face was still a sickly pale, with a faint blueness under his eyes. Even so, there was no fear in his expression. “Many thanks, Fellow Daoist Meng.”

Meng Qi shook her head. She went to call Shen Zhengheng and the others, who were waiting outside the door, to enter the room again.

Meng Qi sighed in relief. Now that she had known about the array’s true nature, there was no need for her to detoxify Li Che herself. This meant that…

Meng Qi took out the brocade bag containing the spirit stones she had received before and returned it to Shen Zhengheng.

“Young Daoist Meng. This is…” Shen Zhengheng looked at Meng Qi in surprise, “Even Young Daoist Meng cannot do anything about Xiao Che’s poison?”

“No.” Meng Qi shook her head and began to explain, “The array on Fellow Daoist Li’s body is called the Four Poles And Four Seasons Array…” Meng Qi explained everything and finally said: “So, Sect Leader Shen can easily solve the poison on Fellow Daoist Li’s body by yourself. Since I don’t do anything, I naturally cannot accept the payment.”

To be honest, Meng Qi was relieved. She really didn’t want to extort someone like Li Che. Since she didn’t need to do anything, it was the best result.